by Kate Gordon
“I’d like to come too,” Chloe said quietly, “but I don’t know if I can get to and from the Pony Club to get Angel and have time to ride over here.”
“Oh gosh, thinking of time.” Lily checked her watch. “It’s six o’clock. We better think about heading back soon. But you can leave Angel at our place now, Chlo. I’ll tell Dad something like she’s being harassed by another pony at the club grazing.”
“Are you sure he won’t mind?”
“We’ve offered to have Angel graze with us before. It’s your mum who doesn’t want to.”
“That’s enough about grazing,” Sasha butted in. “I’ve just got to know: how do you make the light around you?”
“It’s nothing,” rumbled Sigvard, standing close to Tommy. “Unicorn foals can do this from birth. The first skill we all master is how to control our glow so we can hide with our mothers and not reveal the herd to our enemies.”
“But,” Sasha responded quickly, “if you’re in a strange place, don’t you want to stay secret? Why shine your light?”
Sigvard replied, “Because our guardians like Guilio, Mikaela and her kind cannot sense any enemies here.”
“That is not to say,” Ambrosius added, “that there is not magic here. Mikaela, who is developing the most extraordinary sensory powers we have ever seen among all the unicorn herds, tells us there is indeed some kind of old magic in this land that she is yet to understand. But she does not sense any evil, hence we feel comfortable to relax and glow at the current time.”
“There’s so much I’d like to know about your life, Sigvard.” Sasha’s voice held a passion Lily hadn’t heard for months. Not since Sasha first told them about some problems at home.
“It would give me great pleasure to show you around our homeland, young one, although how we might ever venture there together is unknown to me at this point in time.”
“Oh, Lily, Chloe,” Sasha turned to grin at them, “wouldn’t that be amazing?”
“Amazing!” replied Lily, silently agreeing with Sigvard that it was a complete mystery how they could ever see where the unicorns lived.
“Excuse me,” came Chloe’s gentle voice. “If Sasha can ask questions, can I ask one too?”
Ambrosius nodded. “Of course.”
She swallowed. “If you aren’t from New Zealand, how did you get here?”
“Brökk can create a chasm under the earth through which we travel,” he replied.
Lily saw Chloe’s eyes go wide with wonder as Ambrosius continued, “It would be clearer if we explain why we’re here.”
Lily looked at her watch again. “Would it be possible to explain super quickly, please? We really do need to go soon.”
Ambrosius nodded. “As Lily knows, we are the herd of Västerbotten and have escaped our homeland to try and avoid capture by our former protector, the witch Abellona.”
Chloe gasped.
“For many long years, she has feuded with her twin brother Perseus. We unicorn herds are mere pawns in their games of war, which they move from one land to the next on a whim.” Ambrosius paused, his face solemn. “For most of this time, Abellona has tried to enslave us, for we are one of just three unicorn herds who remain free. She seeks to pitch us in battle against our own kind.”
Lily’s chest tightened with fear hearing this new information. That witch sounded horrible.
“Our patron Celestina, the kind-hearted younger sister of the twins, is no longer able to protect us as she was captured when Abellona and Perseus recently made a rare decision to work together. Now they are back to their deadly feud, and we are Abellona’s next target, hence the decision to flee as far from our homeland as we could. One day we will try and return to free Celestina, and maybe stop Abellona and Perseus, but for now we seek to hide from Abellona and regain our full strength.”
“Wow,” Sasha said shakily. “And I thought my home life was difficult! Do you think this Abellona will follow you here?”
Sigvard spoke. “We expect so. With the help of Celestina’s guardian dog Pudersnö who fortunately managed to avoid being captured with her, Abellona was distracted from monitoring our region for a few days. But it’s only a matter of time before she attempts to follow us through the chasm.”
“Oh, no...” Chloe pressed her hand to her mouth. “She could get here?”
Ambrosius nodded. “We expect she will. While this farm is a fine place for us to rest for a day or two, maybe three, we will need a more secluded place to move to. And that’s why we ask for your assistance.”
Sigvard jumped in. “What we seek from you is the opportunity to exploit Abellona’s distaste of humans. We wish to disguise the herd in some way near a large enough group of humans for a sufficient period of time for Brökk to return to full health. With the greatest of luck, perhaps Abellona will lose interest in searching for us at the present time and think of another ploy to take on her scheming twin.”
Lily looked at her friends. They looked as stunned as she felt.
Disguise the herd?
“Um, how…” Lily stuttered. “How in the world could we do that?”
“Yeah,” said Sasha, “it’s not like we’ve got any magical powers.” She shook her head in bewilderment. “Sounds like you need big magic to take on this witch.”
Ambrosius touched his muzzle gently on Lily’s shoulder. “There’s a lot for you to comprehend, we know. But we also need to make some decisions and quickly.”
Lily locked gazes with the unicorn king, feeling more frightened every moment. “What’s it like for the unicorns the witch has captured?”
“And the pegasuses she’s enslaved.” The pegasus standing guard not far away spoke up. “A fate worse than death.”
“Guilio, I’m very sad to say, knows from personal experience,” Ambrosius explained. “His brother Galen and Galen’s mate Xanthe were captured by Abellona some years ago. Galen is forced to carry Abellona upon his back as she takes to the skies to hunt his comrades. The alternative is he must witness Abellona’s torturous treatment of poor Xanthe, which becomes more unbearable for our beloved Galen than having to be a traitor to one’s herd and friends.”
Lily felt sick to her stomach. “That’s just...awful.” She sniffed back tears that threatened to fall. “Of course I’ll help. If I can.” She glanced at her friends, who both looked pale and worried. “We all will.” They nodded. “I’m just not sure how.”
Sigvard responded, his voice brisk. “We think our best defence while Brökk heals is to hide the herd near humans in the hope the overwhelming smell of people will prevent Abellona’s attack dog from finding our scent and leading her to us. Our sensory, Mikaela, will provide some advance warning, but we cannot remain here, so close to the chasm.”
Lily looked from one to the other. “And like last night, you think because we’re locals, we might be able to help?”
Sigvard snorted with impatience. “Well, do you know the area, or not? We don’t have time to search for a suitable hiding place every night and leave the herd more vulnerable to attack. Obviously we cannot search by day.”
Ambrosius added, “Normally Brökk would be able to close the chasm fully behind us, but this was a much, much longer journey than we have ever undertaken. He nearly killed himself to get us all here safely and didn’t have the energy or magic left to reach this far across the world and close the chasm completely, and thus help protect our destination from others trying to detect it. As you can see, the next priority is to get the herd to as safe a place as we can. Then Brökk can have the time to heal. I’m sure he will, with enough time.”
“Or we’ll never get home again.” Guilio’s bleak voice came from the edge of the trees where he stood watch.
Tears welled again as Lily looked at Guilio and back to the two massive unicorns. That’s too sad to even think about. The weight of their expectations settled on her. There is so much at stake.
Lily puzzled over the need for a suitable hiding place. If only I could think of somewh
ere!
She looked up at her friends on their ponies. “What do you think?
Chloe’s dark eyes were worried as she looked at Lily. “Do you think we could do an internet search in the library at lunchtime? Then ride out tomorrow morning to check any place that looks suitable?”
Sigvard cleared his throat with a deep cough. “Well, that sounds fine, but we’re in somewhat of a hurry.”
That reminded Lily to check the time. We need to go!
He continued. “Do you have any immediate possibilities for a place we can move the herd to tonight?”
Lily sighed. “It’s not that simple, because we don’t know every farm, park or area of native bush around Whale Bay. It was just lucky I remembered that this farm is empty of people and animals at the moment.”
Chloe spoke. “Ambrosius, didn’t you say it might be up to three days before she – I can’t even say her name, she sounds so awful – could get here? Do you expect she could travel through the chasm faster than you did?”
“No, her army would travel at around the same speed,” the unicorn king replied.
“So if you didn’t move tonight, that’s okay?”
“I believe so, yes. Sigvard is just trying to get us to the safest possible place as quickly as we can.”
“We understand that, but we need to think about what you’ve told us,” Sasha jumped in. “We have to go to school today, but we’ll search on the internet at lunchtime. Like Chloe said, we can ride out tomorrow morning to check the most likely possibilities. You probably can’t move tonight, but possibly tomorrow night, or even the night after – Sunday. Thank goodness today is the last day of school for six weeks. Christmas holidays and Pony Club championships, here we come!”
The championships were the last thing on Lily’s mind. She was thinking of another idea, although it was tinged with guilt, seeing as it meant riding through the forest again without permission. She pushed that thought away – the unicorns came first. “Do you girls want to stay at my place tonight? Bring the ponies, then we can get back here easier tonight with Kuia’s herbs and start our search earlier tomorrow?”
“I can stay. Great idea to get started as early as we can,” Sasha said with a sigh. “Because I have to be home for a stupid family thing at two o’clock.”
“I’ll ask, Lily,” said Chloe in her gentle voice. “I hope Mum will let me stay. She’s booked a maths tutor tomorrow afternoon, but she did say I could ride in the morning. I’ll never be able to sneak out of home again tonight. I was frightened enough this morning.”
Lily bit her lip. I can’t say it, but if that witch turns up, she is going to be way more frightening than Chloe’s mother.
Ambrosius spoke. “You’re already coming back tonight to tend to Brökk, so you’ll tell us what you’ve been able to find out then.”
“If we bring a map, can we show you the options we find?” Chloe asked quietly. “Sorry if that sounds rude, but I don’t know if you can read a map...” Her voice trailed off awkwardly.
“A valid question, Chloe,” Ambrosius said kindly. “We are fortunate to have a special relationship with a trustworthy person in our homeland who keeps us up to date with the human world. We have even looked at internet pages about unicorns.” He chuckled. “We find those most amusing.”
Lily giggled at the idea. “So we could look at a map together and plan routes from this farm to possible hiding places?”
“Indeed we can,” he replied. “Now you must go. Dawn is not far away.”
Lily grabbed Rainbow’s reins from Chloe. “Will you ride with us now, Sigvard? Then you’ll know where to meet us tonight?”
The next second, she was galloping across the paddock beside the massive unicorn and her friends. For a moment, excitement overrode worry for the herd. No one would ever believe this if you told them!
Lily and Chloe saw Sasha pelting down her drive as the school bus pulled up outside. She was greeted with a chorus of “Nearly missed it!” from the other kids and a stern reminder to be on time next year from the driver.
Sasha swung into the seat behind them and leaned forward to whisper. “Did you get inside without anyone knowing, Chlo?”
Chloe twisted in her seat so they could whisper without being heard. “Mum was coming downstairs as I came in.”
“Oh!” Lily looked at her friend, worried on her behalf. Mrs Cho was very strict.
“I said I’d been out for an early morning bike ride. That the piano teacher told me that physical exercise like horse riding and biking was important for mental clarity around the intensity of practising for the grading exams next year.”
“Good thinking!” Sasha patted Chloe’s shoulder.
Lily smiled. “Did she buy it?”
Chloe grinned. “She didn’t even ask why I was wearing jodhpurs to ride my bike. She just walked into the kitchen and started adding more riding sessions to my weekly schedule for the holidays. As long as I can make most of them horse riding, not bike riding, that will be great. I’ll get more time with you guys and the ponies! What about you, Sash?”
Sasha turned her face away to look out the window. “They were too busy fighting to notice me.”
Lily reached around the seat to squeeze Sasha’s hand. “I’m so sorry, Sash. That sounds horrible.”
Their brave, confident friend sniffed hard, and her eyes were filled with tears when she looked back. “Yeah, it’s really, really horrible. I don’t know why they stay together if they make each other so miserable, but I don’t want them to split up either. What would happen then?”
Lily glanced at Chloe, who looked as sad as she was feeling herself. What could she say? No one liked to hear that their friend’s parents might divorce. Poor Sasha and her little sister Susie. She scooted around into Sasha’s seat to hug her friend. “We’ll be here for you. And you can come and stay any time you want if that helps.”
Sasha wiped the tears out of her eyes. “Thanks, but I don’t like to leave Dad alone with Mum too much. She and Susie are ganging up on him, and he needs someone to be on his side too.”
Oh. How awful! She squeezed Sasha in another tight hug. “I hope something works out.”
Sasha hugged her back. “I guess something will, somehow.” Dropping her voice, meaning Chloe leaned further back over the seat to hear, she added, “Let’s change the subject! How are we going to find them a hiding place?”
“I’ve been thinking...” Chloe started to reply as the bus pulled up outside school. They had to pile off with everyone else and head to class.
As they hung up their backpacks, Lily said: “As soon as the bell rings for break and lunchtime, I’m going to sprint for the library to bags a computer.”
“Great. Try and get that one that faces the back wall,” said Sasha. “We don’t want people nosing into what we’re looking at.”
“It will only be maps and stuff,” Chloe said. “No one will care.”
Sasha plopped into a chair. “Not taking any chances.”
Lily sat beside her, Chloe on the other side. “I’ll get that computer if I can, but you know the geeky boys always try and get that one.”
“Run faster then.” Sasha lifted the desk lid to pull out her geography books.
“Morning, class!” Their teacher, Mrs Worthington, turned from the white-board where she’d been writing up today’s lesson, and the chatter from their classmates lessened. “Quiet now. We’re going to wrap up the year talking about sea caves and how they’re formed. Seeing as Whale Bay is well-known for our sea caves, I’m sure you’ll go into them again over summer, so now you’ll be better informed.”
Sasha leaned over. “Not made by a magical unicorn, I guess,” she whispered.
“And if you’re going to talk all day, Sasha Graham,” said Mrs Worthington, “I’ll move you away from your friends.”
Sasha straightened in her chair. “Sorry, Mrs Worthington.”
“Good.” The teacher flicked on the big screen that replicated her computer screen. �
�These are the sea caves at Cathedral Cove on the east coast of the North Island, which are similar to ours in Whale Bay.”
Mrs Worthington talked for some time. Lily’s mind drifted. She wondered about how Ambrosius told them Brökk could make a chasm under the sea. How was that even possible? Before she knew it, her fingers held a pencil sketching the herd’s most magical unicorn on a new page in her geography book.
Lost in trying to capture his eyes properly, she didn’t notice the teacher standing behind her until Mrs Worthington cleared her throat.
“A unicorn, Lily? Not the questions from the white-board you’re meant to be answering about sea caves.”
Lily slapped her hand over the drawing. What was she thinking, drawing one of the supposedly secret unicorns? “Um, sorry, Mrs Worthington.” What could she say? “I’ve been thinking of a story I want to write over the holidays.”
“Really?” said the teacher. “I know it’s the last day of term, but some attention to this current lesson and not something better suited to creative writing classes would be appreciated.”
“Yes, Mrs Worthington. Sorry.” Lily turned to a blank page and looked intently at the questions on the board. She wrote number one then a dash, trying to focus on a sensible answer when she realised the teacher was still standing behind her.
“You’re lucky there’s no detention today, Lily, this being the final day of term.”
Then, finally, the teacher walked away, leaving Lily frozen in shock. Imagine being sent to detention on the last day of the year! She had so much to do too. Train Rainbow. Tidy her room to fit the camp stretchers in for the girls. Help Mum with some chores to make up for the extra work of feeding her friends – that was the rule her parents had put in place a while ago as it always seemed to be Sasha and Chloe coming to stay at their house, not the other way around. Her parents welcomed Lily’s friends but wanted Lily to understand it involved extra work.
She didn’t mind. She usually enjoyed the chores like cleaning the working dogs’ kennels and feeding them, sweeping the barn, picking vegetables from the garden and helping make dinner. Cleaning the hen house was the worst one – it was so smelly – but she liked seeing the hens happy, clucking among clean shavings, so that was okay too.
